Awareness of Reproductive Health among Adolescents in Schools under the CBSE Curriculum in Kolkata

Abstract

Understanding reproductive health is important to adolescents as it ensures a safe transition to adulthood. The study aims to understand adolescents’ knowledge of their reproductive health, the impact of reproductive health issues on well-being of adolescentsand suggest ways to promote school-based reproductive health education. Taking 185 adolescent boys and girls through simple random sampling from three PM SHRI Kendriya Vidyalayas of Kolkata under the CBSE Curriculum, the study employed two standardized questionnaires to ascertain adolescents’ awareness of reproductive health and measure the impact of reproductive health issues on their well-being. The result finds that adolescents struggle to access trustworthy sources of information and lack adequate awareness of reproductive health. They are deprived of cooperation from parents, schools, and the media in understanding reproductive health. There remains a significant difference between boys and girls regarding their access to knowledge about reproductive health. Girls participate in menstrual awareness drives at school; they can talk to their mothers about it more frequently. Boys cannot talk to their mothers at home. They are excluded from reproductive health awareness drives at school. School educationselectively prioritizes menstrual hygiene for girls. Irrespective of their gender, adolescents are ignorant about recognizing the impact of reproductive health issues in academic engagements. Students demand that knowledge about reproductive health be available to them in the school.School-based educational intervention in collaboration with the community appears to be effective, in which teachers are supposed to take up the responsibility to aware adolescents of the importance of reproductive health. This can equip adolescents with knowledge to make informed decisions, ensuring reproductive health well-being.